Monday, August 15, 2005

Musings of a Pilgrim

Benedict XVI gave a 15-minute audience to a reporter from Vatican Radio's German programme, focusing on Cologne. Full English translation here, and some snips:

I would like to show the [young people] how beautiful it is to be Christian, because the widespread idea which continues to exist is that Christianity is composed of laws and bans which one has to keep and, hence, is something toilsome and burdensome – that one is freer without such a burden. I want to make clear that it not a burden to be carried by a great love and realization, but it is like having wings.

Hmmm... that statement sounds curiously like the retort Diarmuid Martin gave about religion as "exacting, negative rule book." And Diarmuid got hellfire for that line, was called a pagan and everything...

What's good for the goose, snowflakes?

And the Pope on "wisdom":

[W]isdom in itself is not something stale – as we in German connect the word “wisdom” with such a stale taste, but it is the understanding of the facts of the matter, it is the view of what is “essential”. Young people of course want to learn about life, they want to newly discover life, and they don’t want someone to regurgitate it for them. Perhaps this is the contrast one can see here.

Do yourself a favor and read the full-text. To attempt to do it justice here would be the epitome of foolishness....

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About Me

One of global Catholicism's most prominent chroniclers, Rocco Palmo has held court as the "Church Whisperer" since 2004, when the pages you're reading were launched with an audience of three, grown since by nothing but word of mouth, and kept alive throughout solely by means of reader support.

A former US correspondent for the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet, he's been a church analyst for The New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, BBC, NBC, CNN and NPR among other mainstream print and broadcast outlets worldwide.

A native of Philadelphia, Rocco Palmo attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 2010, he received a Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St Louis.

In 2011, Palmo co-chaired the first Vatican conference on social media, convened by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communications. By appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap., he's likewise served on the first-ever Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese, whose Church remains his home.